Hour XIII
by SeekingRedemption
Summary: He has thirteen hours to save his other half, if he even lives that long. Look out for chapters two and six, when it gets here, due to violence. Still Akuroku for now.
1. XIII

Hour XIII

…

It was towards the middle of the day, I think, and we were sprawled in front of the small gate, watching the sun arc towards the horizon. I got uncomfortable again and squirmed into another position, half-aware of the brunette beside me. She shot me an amused look, her hand cupping her cheek, and looked at Pence. "When's it getting here?"

"Whenever it feels like it," he muttered sourly. Waiting was usually his strong point, but even the indomitable Pence had his limits. "He didn't give us a time. Remember?"

"Stupid Seifer," I grumbled. "He probably lied to us, you know, and we're wasting our time."

"You sound like Rai," Olette informed me with a playful punch.

I heard a growl from my other side and looked at Hayner. "What's with you?"

"Would you stop talking about that stupid…that stupid, stupid guy?" he demanded, glaring at me. Hayner had, of course, recently finished a rant on Seifer, and had run out of things to call him. In a minute he'd think of something-- "That dick!" --there it was, and go on about him for a bit-- "It's just like him to pull something like this! He never leaves us alone." --and then blame it all on something (or someone) completely unrelated (i.e. me)-- "We wouldn't even be here if Roxas hadn't gone along with it! Why do you have to be such a bonehead all the time?"

Rolling my eyes, I sighed and turned on my side, away from him. "Shut up. It wasn't even my idea. We could've done something more fun."

"Roxas, Hayner, come on, guys…" I heard Olette say soothingly.

"That's right, you wanted us to research your stupid heart problems."

I hit him. I punched him hard, right in the face, and ducked out of the way when he tried to hit me back. "Stupid?" I repeated, trying to keep my voice from shrilling, even though I was almost angry and hurt enough not to care. "I could _die_, Hayner!"

"Guys, guys, come on!" Pence said then, getting between us. "We've been out here a long time, so it's getting kinda tense. Back down, Hayner, huh?"

I could already see the regret in Hayner's eyes, but it didn't make it any better. I've had heart problems since I was a baby--and though around Hayner, Pence, and Olette, they're just "heart problems," that's a euphemism.

I have half a heart.

It's not an easy condition to live with. It's not even a condition I'm supposed to be able to live with, and the doctors aren't really sure how I've managed to survive, especially since there's no medical record from before my fifteenth year here in Twilight Town--which is weird, because I've lived here for as far back as I can remember. So long as I take my medicine, though, I'm okay.

"You know we don't want anything to happen to you, Roxas," Olette told me while Hayner stomped off to the opposite side of Sunset Hill to sulk, Pence close behind him. "Hayner's just mad at Seifer again. You know how he gets--he was really pissed off after what happened to the pictures last month. Remember?"

I frowned at the train tracks. Of course I remembered the pictures--how could I forget? While we were trying to chase down the thief, this no good weirdo got his mitts on Pence's camera. I chased him down while the others tried to convince Seifer to lay off, but he just threw the camera at my feet, along with the other photographs. "They don't mean anything," he murmured in a voice that struck a painfully nostalgic chord--where had I heard it before? He was wearing a cloak that hid everything, other than those hips of his, or else I probably would have recognized him. "I guess…" He looked up at me, and the flash of jade sent a thrill through me. "I guess I just had to see you again. Even if it was fake."

"Roxas!" came voices from the woods around me, Olette's louder than the rest--probably because she was closer. "Roxas, are you all right?" Funny, I could hear her even now.

The past blurred into the present as I realized the others were clustered around me. Hayner stood in front of me, his eyes burning into mine and his hands on my shoulders. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Huh?" I looked down, and realized my hands were on top of one another, placed over my heart. It beat again sharply, sending a sharp pain through my chest. "Uhn…!"

"Do we need to take you to the hospital? Or is it just the medicine this time?" Pence asked, making Hayner let go of me, which was better. Pence's expression was totally calm, and while Hayner was managing this with difficulty, Olette looked ready to burst into tears. I'd never had an attack around her before, that I could remember, so it wasn't like I could blame her for being scared.

_Keep beating,_ I urged my heart silently. _Keep going. Come on._ It was a mild attack, but it still hurt. I would need medicine. "We…we should probably go home," I said in disappointment, looking over Hayner's shoulder for…the…

"Hey! Hey hey HEY--the train!" I realized, pointing. The others didn't seem to react, but I pushed past them anyway, reaching the gate. "It's here! It's really here, like he said!"

"Roxas?"

"What about your--!"

"Wait!" I said quickly, my eyes locked on the train as it entered. It was a steely black color, mixed with white and a bit of gray, and there was a strange white, sort of curvy, crosslike symbol on the front that I didn't recognize. It passed under us in dead silence, but I could see that there was someone driving it--someone cloaked. Looking at them gave me the chills somehow. Hadn't that guy, the one from the woods, been wearing that same cloak?

I didn't look directly at them when I turned back to the others, so I guess that's how I missed the looks of confusion on their faces. Because I know now, they must've been there. "Guys, I…I don't know what that was…"

"But, Roxas…" Olette frowned out at the tracks, shaking her head. "There's nothing there."

I blinked at her, wondering if she could be quite that stupid. "Well not _now_," I said simply. "Come on, let's go to the station. I mean, we have to go home anyway, and maybe we can talk to that guy. We just might be able to get this thing done!"

"What are you _talking_ about!" I thought I heard Hayner half-scream behind me, but I was already leaving the hill and didn't really think about it.

The train was waiting for us when we got to the station, and I felt a bit of foreboding when I walked towards it. I could see the cloaked figure inside, bending over, it looked like, probably to punch a ticket or something. Sucking in my breath, and ignoring the slight pang in my chest when I did so, I started for the train. But I stopped when I realized that Hayner and the others weren't following. "Are you guys coming or what?" I asked them, turning around.

"You know, Roxas, it just occurred to me that this whole thing is a really bad idea," Hayner said quickly, stepping in front of me. "We should really get you home before anything else happens."

Pence was at my elbow a moment later, nodding. "He's right, you know. You're probably feeling a little light-headed from all the excitement. Not to mention your heart's been acting up--"

"Yeah, and that's why you think you saw that train," Olette pitched in from the other side.

What was _wrong_ with that girl? I glared at her and pointed. "Olette, it's right--!" But my eyes widened as I stared through the space between Hayner's arm and hip. "…there…?"

The station was empty.

"But it was! It _was_!" I insisted to them.

Hayner grabbed me by the shoulders and escorted me to one of the benches. "Sit." I sat. "Listen. You're just feeling a little woozy from your heart problems, okay? Doesn't that medication cause hallucinations anyway? We all really wanted to see that train, so it's no surprise that you _thought_ you saw--"

"Hayner, _it was there_!"

"Roxas," Pence said sharply. It was a tone of voice I'd never heard him use—not that I could remember, anyway, which seemed really strange. In fifteen years, wouldn't I have heard him when he got mad or upset? "You were the only one who saw that train. I didn't see it, Olette didn't see it, and Hayner didn't see it. It wasn't real."

That quelled any other protest I had been about to make. The train wasn't real, and that was the end of it. "Fine," I said, crossing my arms and sighing. "Let's go home, then."

"Aww, you're not mad at us now, are you?" Hayner asked, bending down to my level.

"No," I confided. I put a hand over my heart thoughtfully. "I just…I want this to go away. I wish it wasn't a problem anymore, somehow."

"Yeah. We wish there was something we could do to help," he said, smiling sadly.

Olette glanced up at the clock above the ticket counter. "Hey, it's still about a half an hour before the train gets here," she alerted us. "How about we run grab some ice cream?"

"The usual?" I asked, grinning. Sea-salt was sounding pretty good about now.

"Well, they don't sell that here, actually," Pence explained. "This kind comes in a cone. More flavors than just sea-salt, lemon, and strawberry. Dibs on chocolate!"

"Vanilla banana swirl," Olette said with a nod.

"And I'll take that boysenberry stuff," Hayner said. "Which one do you want, Roxas?"

I blinked. They were so prompt--like they'd been here before. But then, I'd been here before, too, right? Lots of times. So why didn't I have a flavor… "Um, vanilla, I guess," I said, shrugging.

"Maybe I should stay here with him, and you guys get the ice cream," Hayner suggested.

"Sure. Raspberry, right?" Pence asked.

"No, _boysen_berry!"

"Right, right."

"Don't worry about it, I'm just sitting right here," I told him. "Nothing's gonna happen. Besides, how long can it possibly take you guys to get ice cream?"

"All right, just don't do anything stupid, like try to get on the mystery train, all right?" he said, grinning.

"I won't," I promised, waving as the three of them ran off together, chattering excitedly and countering flavor with flavor. They looked so at peace together, like they…like they really fit, even though I wasn't with them. _Why am I being so depressing all of a sudden?_

I tried to think about some more upbeat things. Like that girl over by the tracks, the one in the white dress. _She's kind of cute,_ I thought, grinning inwardly. _If she looks this way, I'll wave to her. Maybe we'll start a conversation._ She did look my way, but when I waved, she just returned her gaze to the tracks. _Maybe not…_

Well, I was bored. Hayner and the others sure were taking their sweet time with the ice cream. _They sure as hell better not forget mine._ Even if it was stupid vanilla, and I had just then realized I didn't really like vanilla. I looked up, realizing with a start that there was a train in the station and that maybe it was time to go home already and where were Hayner and the others? But--no, it was just that stupid hallucination again. I scowled at it. _Back to bother me again?_

The girl, though, was walking towards it. Or, no--the train wasn't really there, so she was walking towards the tracks! "Hey!" I called, rising and approaching her. She turned to me, shooting me an inquisitive look with those large blue eyes of hers. Somehow, she didn't seem outwardly mean, but there wasn't really anything welcoming about her, either. "You--you'll get hurt," I managed, suddenly nervous.

She smiled, as if to say, "poor, naïve soul," and shook her head. "I'm going away. Do you want to come with me?"

"Wh--but, the train…" I hesitated. Maybe…was she a hallucination, too? If so, I…well, if she was a hallucination too, I was beginning to hate my life.

She shrugged--an easy gesture that briefly dislodged the blonde strands resting over her right shoulder--and started for the train again. "Suit yourself."

I opened my mouth to respond to that, and suddenly it hit me. "It" came in the form of an attack--a bad one. Needles shot through my heart, and by extension my chest, and I hit the ground a moment later, squeezing my skin where it hurt so badly. "Kh…nnnhh…!" Gritting my teeth against the pain, I tried in desperation to form the name Hayner, Pence, or Olette--but my jaw was locked and wouldn't obey.

"I can't leave you here, can I?"

It was the blonde, bent beside me and looking at me again. Blonde strands fell about her face, and though there was no concern in her eyes, I could feel that, at some much deeper level, she cared. "Come on. I can help."

I felt her hand slide into mine, and she pulled me to my feet, even though the pain seemed to be getting even worse now. I leaned heavily against her, but it didn't slow her down. As we approached the train, I heard footsteps clatter against the cobblestone behind us, and looked back in time to see Hayner, Pence, and Olette arrive. Their eyes met mine, then turned to meet the girl's, and finally rested on the train. The train--they could see it, then!

"Roxas!" Olette cried out sharply, her voice edged with fear.

Hayner shook his head, trembling slightly, and I realized with a shock that he--that Hayner…Hayner was _crying_! "I'm sorry, Roxas! I'm sorry about what I said! Just don't go!"

"Hayner, I--!"

"We knew it wasn't going to be for long," he continued, his voice beginning to break. "We knew it wouldn't last, but…but it's been too short! Don't leave us now, Roxas!"

The emotion in his eyes hit me in a place I hadn't been struck before. "Hayner…" I managed softly. Then the blonde tugged on my hand gently.

"If you stay with them, you'll die," she said. "That's the simple truth."

I looked up at them again for what I knew was going to be the last time, and my body quavered with emotion. Could I…no, I couldn't do this. "I…I wish…" My voice broke, and I turned away to hide the cold tears quivering on my chin. Then the girl, with a single backward glance at my friends, led me inside the train.

They shouted in alarm, as I knew they would, and ran forward. "Tickets," I heard from behind me as I watched Hayner, and the blonde solemnly handed two of them to the cloaked man who was the engineer. The two of us sat down on one of the long benches in the four cars on the train, and then my attention was focused on the other three, who had reached us and were by the window. Hayner's hands were pressed to the glass, and I pressed one of mine to his on the other side. Our eyes met, and then the train let out a loud hiss, chugging to life. As it coasted along and Hayner and the others disappeared into the distance, the noise faded away into an eerie silence…an eerie nothingness.

"Na…" I said to the girl next to me. I knew her name, somehow. It just took a little while for it to come back to me. "Na…mi…"

"Namine."

"That's right. I almost had it," I said quietly, trying almost to make light of it. "What…what am I supposed to do now?"

"You wait," she said. "It'll take us some time to get there."

I felt something in my hand, and looked down in time to see her fingers twine around mine. "Sleep now, Roxas," she said soothingly, and it occurred to me that I kind of liked the way she said my name--even though her voice seemed so…cold, was it? In fact, Namine herself seemed cold, somehow. It wasn't like she was freezing, just kind of chilly, as though it was winter when she was wearing that little dress. Even though I was holding her hand, my touch didn't seem to warm her.

Before I knew it, my head was resting against her shoulder. Her fingers flickered in front of my eyes in slow, rhythmic patterns, and she vibrated slightly as she hummed a familiar melody. That song…the one with seven notes…

But then it all faded into dreamless slumber, into nothing.

…

By the time I woke again, the train had stopped. Somehow I knew it had, even though it moved so silently that it was almost impossible to tell. I guess it was because the floor wasn't shaking as much anymore.

I was fading in and out of sleep, but somewhere along the line, my head had moved from Namine's shoulder to her lap. She wasn't humming anymore--instead, her fingers kind of threaded through my hair. Voices were echoing outside, and the train door burst open. Normally, I would have been awake in a second, frightened and wanting to know what was going on. But Namine was completely calm, and that calmness somehow passed on to me, too. I drifted back into unconsciousness briefly.

Warmth replaced the chill that was Namine, as arms encircled me and started out of the train. It was a struggle just to look back and see what had become of her, but when I did, I could see that two of the cloaked men had brought her to her feet. She was still calm and said nothing, but they struck her across the face and dragged her out of the train after us. Fury rose up in my heart--well, in what heart there was to speak of--but it was quelled a moment later by a sudden onset of exhaustion.

"Roxas," came the voice, it must have been several hours later. "Roxas, can you hear me?"

"I…uhn…" My hand went to my heart by habit, and I tried to focus on the face above. It was a familiar face…so familiar… "A…"

The redhead above me smiled. "He's fine," he said to the person next to him, and they nodded and left the room. As the door closed, he turned back to me. "Been awhile, hasn't it?"

I sat up, rubbing the back of my head. Everything was still kind of foggy. "I…I guess. If you're that guy I never met in my life, yeah," I added, shrugging.

"Sticks and stones." He rolled his eyes--pretty jade-colored ones, at that. "You'll start remembering soon enough. Until you do, the name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

But I was too busy frowning at him. "Hey, aren't you…you're the one who stole Pence's camera!"

He raised his hands negligently. "Guilty as charged."

"What did you mean?"

One red eyebrow shot up.

"By what you said. You said something about how they--about how the pictures didn't matter," I added. "And you had to see…" I suddenly realized I was blushing, and I had to drop my eyes from his. The amused smirk on his face didn't exactly help matters. "What did you mean?" I repeated, intent on an answer.

He cleared his throat. "Listen, Roxas…people don't always say what they mean, and what they mean doesn't always have to be an issue. See? Now, aren't you a bit more worried about why you're here and what we're going to do with you?"

I hesitated. For some reason, the thought hadn't occurred to me, although it seems like that'd be a prime concern. "Well, I guess," I managed. "What _are_ you going to do with me? Hey--where's Namine?"

"She's safe, she's safe," he assured me, waving a dismissive hand. "Geez, you savior types always get all uptight about the girls…but don't worry about her. She's been working for us for a while now. You used to know her."

A jolt went through me. "I…I did?"

Axel sighed so powerfully I actually relaxed a little. "Wow. She really did a job on you, didn't she? You don't remember a thing!"

"About what? Was…" I hesitated as that black fear darted up--the fear that those memories, the records, all those little things I didn't remember, could have an explanation. "Was there something before Twilight Town?"

Axel looked in my eyes, and I watched his heart break right then. At first, I wasn't sure why—but I realized that it was because I had forgotten him, because we must have had something special. It wasn't just that, either. It was because now I was going to suffer, and he felt that. He felt it acutely. "Yeah…there was, Roxas," he said quietly. "You've…" He scratched the back of his head, laughing nervously. "Well, I hate to tell you this, but…you've only been in Twilight Town for, maybe, two months."

I stared at him. "No. No, that…that can't be right. I could understand if…if maybe ten _years_ ago I lived somewhere else…but…two months?"

"Think about it. You know I'm right."

And the awful thing about it was, he _was_ right. That explained the records, and why I'd never seen Pence upset, or Olette get that scared, and why I didn't really have a flavor when we went to Sunset Terrace. "So…what was it, then?" I asked, looking around at the room in which they were holding me. It was kind of an off-white color, still splattered with that strange, crosslike design, and the door looked securely locked. Didn't give much of an indication of the rest of this Castle Oblivion place. "What was it like before Twilight Town?"

Axel got up and began to pace the room. For some reason, the question seemed to make him nervous, but this seemed to pass and he shrugged. "Before Hayner and the gang, you ran with us," he said simply. "You had one of our stylish cloaks--which are 'totally happening,' according to Xigbar--and you followed orders like a good Nobody, even if you weren't technically one of us." He sighed. "This all got blown downwind of Xemnas, our big boss guy, and he decided to put you away in Twilight Town, and maybe you'd complete the metamorphosis there. Under what twisted logic I have no idea."

"What's a Nobody?"

"I'll let Namine do the explaining, since she's requested to see you before the tests--but in short, a Nobody hasn't got a heart. Got it memorized?"

"Oh." I thought about it for a minute. But…even if I only had half a heart, why would they send me to Twilight Town? Additionally--"How do you people live?"

"It becomes a matter of choice, after a while," Axel said, shrugging. "Anyway. Before you go, want to hear a secret?"

I was already standing, half-inclined to find Namine by myself and bust her out of there--but as I turned to look at Axel, it occurred to me that we had been best friends. Maybe I should extend the same courtesy to him.

Whoa. Wait. Since _when_?

"Um, sure, I guess," I managed, not really thinking about what I was saying. Suddenly I was in his arms, my back to his chest and his lips at my ear. I could feel my heart thudding in my ears, and a blush rose on my face unbidden. "I love you," he whispered.

"Wha--!"

Then the floor dropped out from under me and I fell.

…

A/N: Meh. The original idea was kinda supposed to be surreal (because I DIG surreality), but it doesn't really come off as that, much. I mean, you can pretty much track everything down to a logical KH idea. Anyway, hopefully I can update about once a week or so, and while this one isn't prewritten like LIE, I have most of the challenges worked out. The ending just needs some tweaking, and the pairing may or may not change (probably won't).


	2. XII

Hour XII

…

Axel tricked me, I thought later as I sat in front of Namine. She was immersed in a drawing of something--or at least being a very good actress, since she had recently explained the finer points of Nobody-hood to me. A Nobody lacked a heart, both in the physical sense and the metaphorical one, so any emotions they had were false. I wasn't even sure that mine were all there, or if maybe I was feeling things at a reduced level, but Namine assured me that…she had no way of knowing.

Anyway. The point is, that bastard tricked me into believing for one eighth of a second that he loved me, and as a result much embarrassment and explaining ensued (in front of Namine, no less). She didn't seem surprised.

"You were in love," she said simply. "As in love as you could be, under the circumstances. Because you loved him, even though he couldn't love you back."

"But--we--but--no!" I managed finally, pointing at the ceiling (in which vicinity I assumed Axel still occupied a space). "We're both guys, Namine! It'd never work! That…that's…" I grimaced.

For a moment it looked like she might laugh, but then she shrugged. "It's not worth much to pretend around you, is it?" Setting aside the drawing pad and pencils, she stood and paced the room, clasping her left wrist with her other hand. "I'm a Nobody. Love will never happen to me, so it's not like I spend much time on it. But I have read about love, and from what I understand, it is meant to transcend all boundaries." She sighed. "And while those without hearts don't necessarily count, those with hearts have every right to pursue the one they love. It's just…it seems to me, when you can have that…when you can feel those emotions, and share them so intimately, why deny them of someone else?"

I hesitated. Namine said all this with absolutely no feeling, and no emotion. It was creepy to listen to--and yet, some of the subtlest nuances in her tone seemed to almost scream things at times.

"He leapt at the chance to go back for you, when we had to give you the pills. You were suffering without them, and we were worried that you might die, and Xemnas would be displeased. So I put those memories of a fiasco with the pictures into your mind, and the others were happy to go along with it, as long as you weren't leaving anytime soon."

"Then…then that was fake, too?"

"I'm afraid so. But I'm sorry--I digress, and we haven't much time." She crossed to her drawing pad again. "Roxas. You know you have only half a heart, right?"

"Right."

"Well, the reason why your heart has been acting up has been because the other half has been too far away. But it can also act up if it recognizes the other half. For example." She held up the pad, exposing the picture of a boy with wild brown hair, who seemed to be sleeping. The moment I saw him, white-hot needles shot through my chest again. It was gone in a second, though, and I stood up, spots flickering in front of my eyes.

"W-whoa…"

"So what do you think would happen to you if the other half of your heart were to cease to exist altogether?"

I stared at her. "I…I'd die, wouldn't I?"

"Most likely. Because, Roxas…" Namine stopped speaking then, and I knew it was hard for her to continue. "The other half of your heart belongs to Sora." The name almost made me spasm--what was so familiar about it? "And Sora is on the top floor of this castle. If you don't get to him in time…" She held up an antique-looking white watch. "The Organization will kill him."

…

It wasn't much later, and I was standing in front of the first door. Namine had already parted from me, and from what I understood, I had thirteen hours to get through the different challenges presented by the different members of the Organization. Which was all well and good, as long as they didn't try to stab me full of pins or anything.

My eyes were on the watch, waiting for the hands to start moving and signify that they were ready. It was a nice watch, but for the fact that it was kind of creepy with that same, white symbol hanging from the chain. There was also the fact that there were thirteen hours on the face, instead of twelve. If not for those details, it looked like it could've been stolen from the White Rabbit.

Time--the sliver of a third hand was moving, and the first second was ticking by. I pushed open the double doors to the first room, slipping inside and squinting in the sudden darkness. "Hello?" I called out, hesitant to do so because I knew it would only let them know my position--but then, maybe this challenge would be straightforward. It was hard to tell.

The moment I abandoned the doors, they slammed shut. I backed away from them, fully expecting whoever it was to be near them--only to collide with the stranger and cry out in alarm. "This way, kid," came the voice, and I realized it was a girl's, even though it was kind of rough and had a hint of a strange accent. "And don't worry, the others made me promise not to break their toy too much--unless he fails the first challenge, which would just be embarrassing, wouldn't it?"

"I-I guess…" I managed, since she had taken me quite firmly by the arm and was now towing me through what seemed to be a dark corridor.

"They never let me have any fun, so it's a good thing you came along. We can start with the easy stuff." We entered a larger room, which was dimly lighted, and I could see some sort of diabolical torture device in the center.

Second thoughts flickered through my mind, and third thoughts, and more thoughts after that. "Uh, w-wait, what exactly are you gonna be--?"

"Nothing much," she said, turning to smirk at me. She was wearing one of those same cloaks, and though I couldn't really tell if her smoothed down hair was brown or blonde, her eyes were a dark green that glinted unsettlingly in the dim light. "I'm Larxene, by the way, since you can't be trusted to remember after Namine's been messing with your head. We were never that close to begin with, so forgive me if I don't care when you die."

I bit back a sulphurous response about her being a Nobody and not having feelings, since she'd probably only make things worse for me. "No problem," I said instead. After all, I didn't have any plans to die in the near future, so it really wasn't a problem.

"Anyway. Shoes, socks, and any gloves or rings off and over there," she said, gesturing vaguely to the wall.

"Why?"

She smirked unsettlingly.

Rather than pursue an answer, I decided to just follow her instructions. This was, after all, clearly a challenge that involved her having immediate access to me, and I didn't have much choice in the matter.

The torture device--because it clearly was one--just had me lying down and strapped to it in about as many ways as a person can be strapped to something. Once I was secured, Larxene started fiddling with something above my head, and I got nervous. What if it was acid or something? Or some kind of drill? Or what if it was so horrible I couldn't even imagine--

Drip.

…Huh? I tried to look up at it, but my head was too snugly wedged into the straps to move. But something had hit my forehead, and it was definitely wet, and it wasn't burning a hole in my head, so it wasn't acid.

"Comfy?" Larxene asked simply, moving out of my line of vision. I heard her pull something out of a sheath--something that made a steely rasp as she did so--and felt a dizzying sense of nervousness. I was having second thoughts already. It had become apparent that Larxene was not only insane and a freak, but a sadist as well, and…and I was beyond the point of being scared.

Drip. What the hell was that, anyway? I glared at the ceiling as if this was all somehow its fault. "Not really," I muttered in response to her question. It was hard to move my jaw. "So what now? Do I just sit here until you run out of water or something?" At least, I was hoping it was water. It would kind of suck if it turned out to be piss or something.

"Well, you could," she said, shrugging and leaning back into view. "But then you'd go insane, and it's not as much fun when they go insane."

"Probably have too much in common," I murmured under my breath. Drip.

That seemed to charm her, since she laughed suddenly and started to pace. "Instead, I guess I'll just interrogate you for a bit. Right answers mean nothing happens to you. Wrong ones, and…" She smirked. "Try not to get wrong answers, hmmm?"

"Whatever, let's just get it over with, I'm on a schedule," I reminded her, blinking a bit of water out of my eyes as another drip landed squarely on my forehead. I tried not to think too hard about what would happen if I got a wrong answer, especially since she seemed to be caressing that knife a little too fondly.

"You'll feel your hands and feet go numb, then," she told me, tightening the bonds a little. The edge of the blade poked my palm a bit, not enough to draw blood. "Feel that?"

"Yeah."

"All right."

We waited in silence for a few moments, during which the water continued to drip on my forehead. Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like the drips were getting louder. _Get a grip, Roxas,_ I thought firmly.

"Feel that?"

"…No."

"Four and two is…"

"Six." Math. This is easy.

"Five and nine…"

"Fourteen."

"Seven by eight…"

"Fifteen. I mean—no! Fifty-six!"

"Wrong answer," she said simply, shrugging. I felt her shift one of my hands, but I couldn't feel whatever she was doing to it. "Continuing—which ice cream is Hayner's favorite at the terrace?"

Drip. "S—Boysenberry," I corrected myself quickly. She didn't say whether that was right or wrong, but I didn't trust myself to ask. "How do you know about Hayner?"

"We were the ones who sent you there, remember?"

"Oh…right."

Something wet hit the floor and my stomach clenched involuntarily. "Wh-what was that?"

"Good question. Maybe I'll ask you that later." She left my hand alone and moved away, still firing questions at me. "About how long have you been in Twilight Town?"

I hesitated on the brink of saying "Fifteen years." "Wait, I—uh…I don't know, I really don't." Drip. It was so hard to concentrate… "Two years?"

"Good guess, but that's wrong, unfortunately." She let go of my foot as something else hit the floor.

I closed my eyes as another drop of water landed solidly on my forehead. _I'm going insane. I'm going insane. What is she doing to me? She…she's obviously cutting something off…_ My stomach turned almost audibly, and I resisted the sudden urge to vomit. "I don't think I can do this," I heard myself whimper.

"You seem a little stressed, Roxas," she said almost fondly. "Let's just make conversation, shall we? What did Namine tell you about Nobodies?"

"They…they don't have hearts," I managed. "So they can't feel, and they don't have a heartbeat. I don't know how they can even live." Drip. Would it stop, would it _stop_?

She laughed at that. "You make it sound like we're so distant. I'm right here," she added, leaning into my face. My eyes flickered automatically to the knife in her hand, which was clearly speckled with blood…

Bile rose in the back of my throat. "_Oh_…"

"This Olette girl," Larxene continued, as I felt my hands shift and more wet things hit the floor--probably owing to other missed questions--"what's your angle on her? Do you like her?"

Drip. _Drip, drip, drip! In a minute it'll happen again!_ "Uh…n-no…" I said. I was blushing for some reason, even though I guess I'd never really thought about whether or not I looked at Olette that way.

"Wrong," Larxene said in a way that told me I couldn't have answered in any other way to please her more. "Let's see, where _haven't_ we been…" As she mulled over me, I struggled to focus.

_Calm down, it's going to be all right…somehow…_ Drip. _Goddammit!_

Tension built up as I waited for the next drop to find its way to my forehead, although I don't know why I was waiting for it--there were other, more important things to think about. Namely, Larxene, who was humming merrily to herself down by my feet. Drip. Relief washed over me briefly, but then I was tense again, waiting for the next one--and when this one hit, I could hear something wet hit the floor in unison.

_This has to stop,_ I realized. "Is it…is this almost over?" I asked her. The only thing that kept me from bowing out of this now was the fact that I knew I would die if I did--but at the same time, losing my sanity was an only slightly brighter prospect.

"I suppose so," she said, shrugging. "It's been almost half an hour anyway, and I didn't want to keep you here as long as the others plan to. So. Last question." She approached, wiping off the knife as she went, and drew it back in front of my face. The water tilted slightly, so that the drips came faster and it was almost impossible to keep my eyes open--but it was equally impossible to look away as I stared at her in horror. "How many fingers do you have left, Roxas?"

I screamed, mainly because there wasn't enough restraint left in me to keep from doing it. Then I closed my eyes and tried to think. "Wait," I said quickly, "wait, give me a second."

"We've got time, no rush," she said simply.

Frightening as it was to think about, I tried to count the times I had heard something against the floor, the times she had grabbed my hand--but I hadn't always felt it. No, no, don't think that--I have to remember. Drip, drip, drip, drip. One, two, three, four, five--five left. No! That's the water, don't pay attention to the water. _I'm going insane._ "I don't know, I don't know!"

"Roxas…"

_In a minute she'll cut my face open and I'll lose it completely--I have to know, I have to know!_ My fists clenched, fingernails digging into my palms as sweat broke out on my forehead.

Wait.

My hands…my hands aren't numb. Neither are my feet--it…it isn't real! I opened my eyes, and I could see Larxene's spirits fall when she saw the glimmer of realization in my eyes. "All of them," I said. "It was…all of this was an illusion, a mental trick," I told her, relieved.

She dropped the knife and drew back, pouting. "Exactly. Now I don't get to mutilate you," she muttered in disappointment.

I blinked again as my eyes flooded with water, both from the drops above me and tears of relief. "Get me out of this thing, then. I beat your challenge."

With palpable discontent, she grudgingly loosened the straps until I could wriggle free. I did a head count of fingers and toes, just in case, and then slipped on a small, wet, rolled up tissue on the floor on the way to my things. There were a few others around, heavy enough to simulate actual extremities, so that explained one nerve-wracking simulation. "But the blood," I said later when I was pulling on my rings and starting out. "Where did that come from?" I asked, checking my arms in case she'd made a cut somewhere.

"Pig's blood," she said, shrugging. "Blood is blood—it all looks the same. Now go on, you've ruined my fun for the day; it's high time you were gone."

I agreed heartily with that, and pulled out the watch on my way out. "Just a half hour," I murmured. It didn't seem that bad, in retrospect. As opposed to dying, anyway. _I just hope the others aren't as…violent,_ I added, glancing back once before vanishing through the double doors.

…

A/N: Bumped the rating up for this one, but I'm not sure if that was too much or not, so let me know. I mean, for me, it's not so bad, since I know the trick behind it the whole time, so I can't really get the sense from it that you guys will. Of course, it made me kinda squeamish, so I figured it was best to be safe…


	3. XI

Hour XIII

…

"Namine?" I said when I saw her. She was sitting there in the white hallway between the two floors, still drawing, with her head bent over the notepad, as if she was going to melt into the paper.

She looked up and smiled. That is, she smiled in that kind of drawn way that is Namine, and stood. "How was Larxene?"

I leaned against the wall and sank to the floor.

"I thought so," she said, laughing at that. "My drawings told me. They also told me you might be in danger, and the rest of the Organization said it would be okay if I waited for you in between the rooms. That way I can heal you if they damage you, and you don't have to go on if you're still bleeding."

"I definitely thought I was going to be bleeding a minute ago," I reflected. "But I don't understand…how could your…"

She held up the notepad, and showed me what looked like me in a corner, bleeding hands shoved in my pockets and tearful face turned away. "They show me what's going to happen sometimes," she said in explanation, and I balked. "And sometimes it's just something that could happen. I never really know—but I thought I should be here, in case you needed me."

"Y-yeah," I murmured. I was still shaken from Larxene's…well, everything about Larxene, pretty much. After all, even Fuu'd have a hard time matching up to her—although Larxene couldn't beat Fuu's way with words. I pulled out the watch again, where the next few seconds were ticking away. "I'd better keep going. But thanks for sticking by me," I added.

She nodded and stepped aside, revealing the next set of double doors behind her. I drew in my breath and approached them, wondering who I'd run into next, and would they please be nicer than Larxene.

The doors dragged a little on the floor and were difficult to open, and after I got inside, I realized why. There was a small mound of dirt in front of the door, and beyond that, the room was filled with flowers. I blinked. Flowers? Inside? Growing out of the freaking _floor_?

But since the room was generously lighted, unlike the creepy darkness of Larxene's room, I decided to let that go, and managed to shut the door behind me. "Uh, hello?" I called into the emptiness, looking around for anyone in the somewhat blinding white of the room. "Is anybody here?"

No response. I hated to do it, but I wasn't going to stand around on that little section of dirt all day, and there were flowers _everywhere_. So I stepped off it, surprised that there was actually about two feet of depth to the field of flowers, and started picking my way through. But there didn't seem to be anyone or anything around, and if there was a door on the other side, I couldn't see it. Still, I started for the opposite wall, intent on finding one.

After a while, though, I started to notice a…weird…a weird kinda smell in the air. Kinda sweet…almost like a bunch of…perfumes that had run together…or…or something. And…and why…I was getting so…foggy… "Uhn…" I murmured, putting a hand to my head and wavering on my feet. I plucked one of the little red flowers with fingers that felt almost numb and frowned at it, turning it over. "Po…poppies…?" was all I could manage before I fell against something delicate and silken, and almost wet. I tried to remember what it was—it seemed important for some reason—but the scent filled my nose and head, and I knew nothing.

…

"Ow…why…" was what I wondered when I sat up in a strange room, filled with what looked like computers of some sort. My head was killing me. "Why do I hurt…?"

"The poppies probably did that to you," someone said from behind me. I spun too quickly, making my head throb even harder, and for a second I saw a man in red, with his face wrapped up—kind of like a mummy's or something. But then he changed, and it was a member of the Organization, his hood still pulled over his face.

"You…you're the next guy, right?" I asked, getting to my feet laboriously. "What do I have to do?"

"You're certainly much more willing to cooperate than Sora," he remarked. "Anyway, I'm Marluxia—you won't remember, but I'm second in command. More or less," he added, frowning. "Xemnas _does_ have his favorites…so I was controlling this place, up until we had the big upset at the Castle That Never Was, where you were stationed with Xemnas and some of the others, and everyone had to move in over here." He looked less than pleased at that, and then shot me a pitying look. "But I suppose none of this is ringing a bell?"

"No. So—" I stopped in the middle of apologizing and glared at him instead.

"Plenty of Sora's spunk, though," he murmured, smirking. "This way."

He lead me up some stairs, and I suddenly realized we were in Twilight Town. "This is the haunted mansion, isn't it?" I asked, looking around in case there were any ghosts lurking about. After all, I could've sworn I saw someone at the window once. Come to think of it, she sort of looked like Namine.

"Yes," he said. "I'll be expecting you at the clocktower." Then he vanished.

I took advantage of the situation, since I was in the forest, and ran to the usual spot, where I knew Hayner, Pence, and Olette would be surprised to see me. Of course, I couldn't stay long—I didn't even know why I was risking it, what with how I could die at any moment, or why Marluxia had taken me out of the castle in the first place—but I didn't think about it just then. "Hey, guys!" I greeted them, coming to a stop just in front of them and breathing hard.

Pence and Olette were on the couch, as usual, and Hayner was reclining on a box, looking slightly uncomfortable. They didn't even look up. "Guys!" I repeated, wondering if they had collectively developed selective hearing or something and why they wouldn't select to hear me. "Hey! It's me! Roxas!" I ran in front of Pence and waved my arms wildly.

It took a few moments, but his eyes slowly came into focus. "Uh, what're you doing?" he asked.

"What're _you_ doing? I've been gone for a couple _days_!"

Pence blinked, but he shook his head. "Sorry, you must have the wrong guy."

"_What_?" I could've strangled him. "Pence! No! It's me!"

But Pence had gone back to talking to Olette, like I wasn't even there.

…_Was_ I there? I looked for my hands and found them, felt my hair and vest and legs…yeah, I was there all right. So why was…wait, I thought, staring at the broken mirror above Hayner's head. It was new, for one thing—I couldn't remember seeing it in the usual spot before—but where was my reflection?

My heart was already about as broken as a heart can get, being in two halves, but I felt like it broke a little more when I ran out of the usual spot and headed for the clocktower. I wanted some answers, and I wanted them now. "Marluxia!" I shouted when I got there, having taken a weird shortcut I'd never tried before. "What's happening to me? Why doesn't anybody see me? Why don't they _remember_?"

He shook his head from where he was standing atop the tower. "A Nobody doesn't exist, Roxas," he said, shrugging. "You can't really expect them to miss you, can you? You were never really there."

"Yes I was!" I insisted. "I had to be! Namine said—"

"She lied to you. She changed your memories. She's done it before, hasn't she?"

I stopped short. I didn't want to believe it, but it was possible—it was completely possible. "There…there has to be some way I can…!"

Marluxia pulled back his hood for the first time, revealing kind of strawberry blond hair, and narrowed his eyes. "You want a heart, Roxas? Take one." He threw one at me, a crystallized one, from what looked like a pile on the tower. "Of course, it might be a bomb, or it might be nothing at all."

At the word bomb, I had dropped the heart, and it obligingly exploded at my feet. I jumped back in alarm, my hands in front of my face. "Wh-what're you trying to do?"

"Whose heart is it you're looking for, Roxas?"

"S…Sora's," I remembered. "Will that…will that make it all come back?"

"It might. But not if you're late, now will it?"

I reached for the watch automatically, but it wasn't in my pocket. I panicked, feeling for it in the other pocket and the ones on my vest, but it wasn't anywhere. "The watch! Where—what'd you do with it?" I half-screamed in terror.

"That brings us to my challenge," he said simply, tossing another heart up into the air and catching it intermittently. "The watch is in one of these hearts. But half of them are empty, and the other half are bombs. So. Be my guest," he said, gesturing to them.

I blinked. "But how am I supposed to—get…up…" I blinked again, because some way or another, I was standing on top of the tower. Marluxia was gone, probably to preen or something, so I picked up another heart and turned it over gingerly in my hands. It looked like it had hinges on the side, so I opened it, only to find nothing inside. "Stupid," I muttered, chucking it over the side, and picked up another one. It rattled a bit when I moved it, and I hesitated, bringing it to my ear. I could hear ticking. "That was easy!" I exclaimed, thoughtlessly looking for the hinges and—

BOOM

"Guah!" I hit the ground, groaning and bleeding a bit. I was hurt, but not bad—the explosion was pretty minor. But now it posed a problem. How was I supposed to tell the watch from a bomb? _Well, I guess,_ I thought, frowning, _I'll just have to blow myself up until I find the watch._ That seemed like a painful game plan, but at the moment I didn't have any other choice. I didn't know if the watch had a different kind of ticking, since I hadn't listened too closely, and I couldn't afford to potentially blow it up if I threw all the hearts onto the ground or something.

So I picked up the next heart. No rattling or ticking. I figured it was empty, but I checked anyway, and it turned out to be. The next three were empty, so I chucked each over the side of the tower, and then was treated to two bombs, which scratched me up somewhat.

But after those two, I wised up a bit. If it ticked, I threw it just hard enough against the ground to get it to explode. If it didn't explode, I checked it. It might still explode after that, but at least I probably wouldn't damage the watch.

I must've been at it for hours, and at first I didn't worry about it, but as the sun sank towards the horizon and it grew dark, I did. I was wasting time! Sora and I were both inching closer to death with every passing second, but all I could do was throw the empty ones over the side and use the bombs to put scorch marks all over the floor. And the pile…

The pile wasn't getting any smaller! In fact, it seemed like it was actually bigger than when I had started! I glared at it, wondering if maybe Marluxia had been sneaking more hearts into the pile, or if it could possibly be my imagination. I felt like that just couldn't be the case, but…I really didn't want to believe I had even further to go than when I started.

"This is so _stupid_!" I shouted, kicking the pile suddenly. A few of the hearts detonated, and one of them fell down near my foot and started ticking ominously. I scowled at it. "Fine! Blow me up! I don't care!" I continued, stomping on it and feeling close to tears. I was probably going to die soon enough, anyway—I had, what, two hours left? Not even? I couldn't complete the next ten challenges in that much time!

But the thing wouldn't blow up. Just like me to run into a dud at a time like this. Or…could it be…no. I frowned. "That's impossible. No way could that just _happen_ to be the one that…" But, even so…I picked it up, turning it over and finding hinges on the side. It clicked when I opened it, and I almost cried with relief when I saw the watch inside.

The hands stopped on XII and XIII, and the ticking silenced.

I stared at it, my hands beginning to tremble. "No, no, that…that can't be…" They were going to kill him! I'd be dead too in just a second! "This can't be happening!" I sat down against the small wall that rose up around the walkway, fighting back tears. Taking the watch out, I looked at it, ran my fingers over the chain…

And it changed. It changed, right in front of my eyes…to a slightly different color. At first I didn't think anything of it, of course, but then I did. Because things don't do that…they don't, normally…but why is it so hard to think like that? Things had been doing that for a while, hadn't they? Like when I took that weird shortcut…it wasn't even in Twilight Town…or how Marluxia had vanished, could the Organization do that? I didn't know too much about them, but for some reason I felt like they had to have something else happen, something with some kind of darkness. There were other things…like the guy in red, the pile of hearts… "This is…not right," I realized, standing up as Marluxia appeared in front of me. Already everything was flickering, everything was starting to fade. I looked into his eyes, and suddenly it was clear. "This is a dream."

"Exactly." He put his hands on my shoulders. "It's a dream, Roxas, that you'd better hope you wake from."

My eyes widened and I struggled to get away, but it was already too late—he was pushing me over the edge. Maybe I screamed, or maybe my mouth was just open, it was impossible to tell in the dream, but I toppled and fell towards the ground.

…

I sat straight up, hyperventilating and in a cold sweat. "The—the dream! The hearts! Boom!" I shouted, looking around in a sudden, irrational panic.

"Roxas," came a voice at my side, and I recognized it as Namine's. "Roxas, calm down. It's all right."

"Oh, geez…" I groaned, falling back against what I assumed to be a pillow. It turned out to be the cold, hard floor. "Ow! Wha—what happened? Before I woke up, I mean…"

"You made it through," Namine said simply. "You realized it was dream, and Marluxia didn't have to kill you. Also, you didn't suffer a heart attack during the falling dream," she added with a nod.

"He could've killed me," I realized, frowning. "Lousy bastard…"

"You'll realize that a lot of them are wanting to do that about now. After all, Sora's been a nuisance for them for some time, so they don't really want him around anymore." Namine stood and went back to her chair in the corner of the room, so I clambered awkwardly to my feet, still feeling funny in the head from the poppies. "Anyway, you've got some time before the next one if you want to relax a bit."

"Time!" I said suddenly, smacking my forehead. I pulled the watch out of my pocket, relieved in the first place to find it there, but it had only been about an hour since I had first entered Marluxia's room. Namine was right—I could spare a few moments, and I certainly needed them.

…

A/N: I know, it's very, very late, and I'm sorry. I've just been through a lot these past few weeks, and haven't really had time to update. Hopefully, the next chapter will be up next weekend—_hopefully_. Oh—and yeah, poppies are real, but I don't know if they can actually knock you out (doubt it), and I didn't bother to check because this is Kingdom frickin' Hearts. Just in case there's a botanist out there or something…

Thanks for the reviews!


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